With a whopping $25,000 on the line for first place, Kokanee Crankworx will be ensuring the best of the best are on course for the inaugural Red Bull Joyride event July 23, 2011. Kokanee Crankworx’s slopestyle event has long been considered the most prestigious event of its kind in the world. A new partnership between Kokanee Crankworx and Red Bull will 'next level' the competition with a complete course redesign and the biggest prize purse in freeride mountain biking.

“We have developed a new invitation format that will ensure the best athletes are here in Whistler to compete in Red Bull Joyride,” says Darren Kinnaird, Kokanee Crankworx General Manager. “Invitations have gone out to athletes based on their performance at previous Crankworx Slopestyles, and how they fared in the FMBA World Tour 2010.”

Here are the invited athletes so far, with another ten athletes to be determined by July 4th:

Teva Best Trick Showdown and Red Bull Joyride Invitation FormatBelow is the criteria used to determine the 15 athlete invitations issued already, for participation in the Teva Best Trick Showdown and the Red Bull Joyride Qualifying event on July 21:

The following is the criteria that will be used to determine the remaining 10 athlete invitations, for participation in the Teva Best Trick Showdown and the Red Bull Joyride Qualifying event on July 21st:

• Winners of a 2011 Freeride Mountain Bike Association (FMBA) Gold or higher ranked event (26 Trix, Claymore Challenge, Chatel Mountain Style) prior to Kokanee Crankworx (or highest placing previously unqualified athlete for total of three athletes)• The top six ranked athletes from the FMBA 2011 rankings after July 3, 2011 • Winner of the Teva Mountain Games Slopestyle on June 2-5, 2011, or the highest previously unqualified athlete • There is the potential to have two to four Wildcard spots available depending on results, to be announced by July 4, 2011.

Red Bull Joyride Qualifying Format: A total of ten athletes will be automatically qualified for Red Bull Joyride on Saturday July 23 and won’t have to participate in the two full course qualifying runs July 21, based on the following criteria:

• Top six ranking athletes from the 2010 Kokanee Crankworx Slopestyle (Zink, Montgomery, Groves, McGarry, Dueck, Granieri) • Top four athletes from the 2010 FMBA overall ranking (or highest previously unqualified athletes - Semenuk, Berrecloth, Soderstrom, Pilgrim). In subsequent years, if Kokanee Crankworx takes place in August, this will be based on current year ranking).

An additional six athletes will be qualified based on the results of two full-course runs on July 21, limited to the 15 athletes that are not pre-qualified for Red Bull Joyride. Red Bull Joyride judges will observe both the Teva Best Trick Showdown contest and the two full-course qualifying runs. Riders will be ranked based on overall performance of both Teva Best Trick Showdown and the qualifying runs to select six athletes to advance and join the ten pre-qualified riders for Red Bull Joyride on Saturday, July 23.

“With Red Bull on board and the stakes super high with $25,000 on the line for first place, Kokanee Crankworx will crown the best freeride mountain biker in the world on July 23, 2011,” says Kinnaird. “We are unbelievably pumped and are counting down the days to witness the next level of mountain biking here in Whistler.”

First place will take home $25,000, second $10,000, third $5,000, fourth $3,500 and fifth $1,500. Watch the first of an exclusive video series from Red Bull detailing the conception of the Joyride course design here: www.redbull.ca/Joyride.

Stay tuned to www.crankworx.com for upcoming news and connect with Crankworx through Facebook.com/crankworx or Twitter.com/crankworx.